PST SAREE

The following article is re-
printed from ‘The Stage in Can-
ada.’

By TOM HENDRY

There is a myth abroad in the
land, supported in the most sur-
prising quarters, to the effect
that if only the performing arts

can become more efficient in~

their fund-raising efforts, assis-
tance from the private sector of
our society can be multiplied
many times over.

At the practical level, this
does not jibe with the experi-
ence of arts fund-raisers, who
tell us that the problem in pro-
viding this type of on-going
operational support is not to ex-
pand, but simply to keep levels
as high as they have been in the
past.

Like the Alice in Wonderland
character, fund-raisers are hav-
ing to run faster and faster
simply to stay where they are.

At the theoretical level, the
whole suggestion is open to
doubt. In a society which, by
and large, is abandoning non-
profit-making areas of activity
to governments, is it likely that
the arts can, in isolation, reverse
a trend supported by the entire
thrust of Western history and
sociology? We doubt the possi-
bility.

No one goes about suggesting
that we ought to raise funds pri-
vatelv for the support of CBC,
cr Air Canada, or the Depart-
ment of External Affairs. No one
suggests that if only those in
charge of these organizations

Sham

By MEL DOIG

Labor and other democratic
forces in Quebec see a demago-
gic hoax of considerable political
danger in the election “battle”
now being staged between Ro-
bert Stanfield, Progressive Con-
Servative leader, and Prime Min-
ister Trudeau around the ques-
tion of Quebec’s right to assume
an international role in matters
of education. No one doubts that
the constitutional issue — the
whole of it, and not just its in-
ternational jurisdictional aspect
— is the main question facing
Canada. The problem of whether
Canada’s two nations are to
exist or not within the frame-
work of a new federal constitu-
tion must be solved, and soon.

The sight the other day of a
16-year-old French-Canadian girl
on her way home from school
quickly scrawling “Bravo” be-
Side the words “Québec Libre”
which someone else had earlier
written on the electoral list in
Montreal’s Rosemont area was
an expression, however fleeting,
of the sweep of this matter.

Nor should there be any doubt
of the sham character of Stan-
field’s pretences that the Progres-
sive Conservatives are the true
champions of the sovereign
rights of Quebec. Mr. Marcel
Faribault, the Montreal financier
and constitutional adviser to the
Union Nationale government of
Quebec, is no “knight on a white
horse.” In accepting Mr. Stan-
field’s pressing demand that he
stand as a Tory candidate in this
federal election, Mr. Faribault
has resigned as president of the
Trust Général du Canada ($575
millions of capital) — while re-

federalist “that

it’

WAYS AND MEANS

example — is the life expec--

would apply themselves to fund-
raising, all problems would be
solved. On the contrary, ener-
gies in these organizations are
applied to operational efficiency
because everyone knows that
Canada, as a society, will hap-
pily support an efficient Air
Canada, an informative, enter-
taining CBC, a well-run, truly
representative Department of
External Affairs.

The same holds true for the
area of the performing arts; in
most cases the energy devoted
to fund-raising is out of all pro-
pcrtion to the hoped-for results;
in addition, these efforts consti-
tute enormous drains on energy
which ought properly to go into
problem solving in the areas of
production and audience devel-
cpment. How well would our
schools operate if principals
and school boards had to- devote
three months of every year to
soliciting private handouts?

Those who are looked to as
authorities in the areas of kul-
turpolitik and arts financing
ought to consecrate their ener-
gies to the task of creating the
conditions whereby our society
can be assisted to obtain a true
realization of the reciprocal and
collective responsiblity between
the general public and the art-
ists within that society.

What is needed, at the mo-
ment, if anyone is looking for
work, is a rationalization of the
perplexing question of responsi-
bility for the continuity and
progress of the various groups
making up the performing arts
totality in Canada. What — for

attle in

voice. For Faribault, generally
considered as the Tories long-
sought Quebec “lieutenant”, has
repeatedly affirmed that he is a
federalist who seeks no more
rights for Quebec “than for any
other province.”

Very much involved in all the
federal election goings-on
around the constitutional issue
is Daniel Johnson, Quebec’s
prime - minister —the equal at
least in political chicanery of
any political figure in Canada. It
will be recalled how last Oc-
tober, while holidaying in Ha-
waii, he issued the statement
that he had not been given any
mandate to erect “a great wall
of China” around Quebec. This
was his seemingly enigmatic re-
assurance to the financiers of
Wall Street, of St. James and
Bay Streets, in a word, to inter-
national finance which had be-
come somewhat uneasy about
what Johnson might mean by
his slogan “Egalité ot Indépen-
dance.” It will also be recalled
that Johnson issued this state-
ment following the visit to him
in Hawaii of none other than
Marcel Faribault of the Trust
Général du Canada, whom he
quickly moved to invite into his
Quebec cabinet.

In the same way, speaking
earlier this month in Montreal,
Mr. Daniel Johnson told United
States and Canadian business-
men, delegates to the Industrial
Realtors’ Convention, ‘Quebec
is part of the North American
continent and we plan to play
by its rules.’ He went on, ‘‘The
reason I tramp all over Canada
and North America these days
is to tell] people we have a stable
government where free enter-
prise flourishes.”, .

‘several Union _

has recently acknowledged -

ationale

tancy of the present hit-or-miss
system of assembling boards of
directors for our organizations?
Ought these boards to be elected,
as school boards are? In what
manner ought we to establish
bonds of responsibility between
arts manifestations and society
in general, rather than between
very tiny fractions of society?

No one in the arts will will-
ingly denigrate the importance
of the contribution of the pri-
vate donor, particularly in the
formative years of any organi-
zation. But, as organizations
evolve, support patterns tend to
create situations where, ultima-
tely, progress can only be based

upon increasing commitments
from governments and _ their
agencies.

This state of affairs has not

‘come about because fund-raisers

are lazy, or incompetent; it has
happened because this is the
way it is. Period.

Theories of support which
tend to equate progress-possibi-
lity with possibilities of private
support simply distract those
concerned from the real:aim of
the arts administrator — to be
supported by all, to be avail-
able to all.

Patterns of patronage identi-
fying the performing arts as the
property of The Few tend to ex-
clude The Many. Such theories
are as irrelevant to our times
as those nineteenth-century
ideas of popular education which
held that free public schooling
was somehow bad for the mass-
es. (First of a series.)

Quebec

MPP’s would work in these elec-
tions for the Progressive Con-
servative Party lead by Mr.

’ Stanfield.” It is to be expected

that the electoral battle already
sharp will become rough as the
federa! parties fight for seats in
Quebec.

What is also at stake behind
the mocked-up version of the
constitutional struggle between
Trudeau “centralists’ and Stan-
field “federalists” is the matter
of the economy of Canada —
the battle between the continen-
talism of Trudeau, to be effected
by an_ all-powerful centralist
government in Ottawa, and the
demands for a greater share in
monopoly’s profits for Quebec
and, as Mr. Faribault puts it,
“for the other provinces.”

Communist Candidate in Quebec.
Jeannette Walsh, long-time worker in
Montreal's needle trades, and now
organizer of the Communist Party of

Quebec, will run against one of Prime®, ,*
Minister Trudeay’s,chief backers, *;'«

Gerald Pelletier, in the Montreal
_ Hochelaga riding. i

The federal election cam-
paign is getting under way in
grand style. A lot of candi-
dates with assorted partisan
labels are already on the
hustings, with more to come.
Some of the descriptive lan-
guage being tossed around
already gives promise of a
good show. The old campaign-
ers in Tory and Liberal jousts
describe each other’s policies
and promises being advanced
as “hogwash”, ‘nonsense’,
“piffle’, “‘bunkum’ and so on.

This being one of the
world’s “free democracies”,
I would say that both are
eminently correct in their
estimation of each other. No
doubt as the campaign warms
up this lowgrade output will
show a steady increase in
production until June 25.

Much of this lcose political
badinage being tossed around
however, serves another and
more sinister purpose {5 keep
the minds of the electorate off
the real issues besetting Can-
ada—and perhaps to hide the
fact that many of these aspir-
ants for a comfortable well-
paid seat in Parliament pro-
bably know damn little about
any or all of those issues, and
couldn’t care less—if no loss
of votes results from their
ignorance.

It is well, however, not to
take this battle of loose words
between Tory, Liberal, Socred,
or what have you, too seriou-
sly. In politics the old adage
that when “thieves fall out
honest men have a chance”
doesn’t apply. Since these
multi-label politicians _ all
serve the same big monopoly
interests, their wordy shadow-
boxing only means that John
Q. Public is being set-up for
a more elaborate rooking —
if that is possible.

Just recently, Prime Minis-
ter Troubadour Trudeau was
in Vancouver, ostensibly to
address the Forestry Council
of this “dynamic” province,
but in actuality to turn his
charm and native bonhomme
upon the natives, with special
emphasis and attention upon
the most kissable segment of
our society. (“Prime Minister”
W.A.C. Bennett of British
Columbia has joined in the
public kissing binge, but says
he prefers them “more ma-
ture”). A very ‘‘mature” man
WAC when it comes to gar-
nering votes.

In B.C. we have sawmills
shutting down and workers

made jobless because of 4
“scarcity” of logs The logs
by the way are being shipped
out daily by the boaload tO
Japan. Trudeau had nothing
to say about that in his For
estry Council spiel.

We have countless thou- |

sands of school kids who will
either be attending school on
a “swing shift” basis or not
at all, because of no money to
build schools, but millions t0
build a super-port where our
resources and jobs can be eX
ported to Japan with greater
speed and efficiency — to Ja-
pan, Sweden — anywhere but
Canada. Trudy had nothing [0
say on that score either.

On Medicare? Well, 45
Mackenzie King used to say
on that and other issues sinc€
1919 (when the Liberals first.
“promised” medicare), “in due
course’. For the moment Tru
deau’s charm would have t0
serve aS a poultice for the
nation’s ills. What damsel
worries about medicare when
her cheek is burning with 4
prime minister’s kiss? What's
the matter with you
“squares’’?

China, ah yes, we must
positively begin to “recog
nize” China. After all the
wheat she has bought from
us, we owe her that much.
Many more of these Trudeau:
isms and the questions will
be — will China “recognize”
us? And by the way just be
fore we overlook it, Canada
must keep up its “obliga
tions”. etc., to NATO. Of
course there will have to be
“changes” in NATO too, but
whether for good or ill, Trudy
didn’t say.

With a final reassurance t0-
our sagging Anglo-Saxon com
cept of the future of Confe-
deration, that “the address is
still Ottawa and not Quebec”
Prime Minister Trudeau bade
us a charming, but temporary
adieu.

Policy-wise he proved 2 |

worthy successor to Mack-
enzie King, Louis St. Laurent
and Mike Pearson, in that he
used an extensive (but easy
to listen to) vocabulary t®
say — exactly nothing. But
ah, those kisses do linger. OP
that we have the word of the
recipients themselves.

ne 5

THE SPRING ISSUE OF HORIZONS |

For those who read Is Paris Burning? with its distof-
tions of the role of the Communist Party of France in the
resistance movement, it is welcome news indeed that @
book, French Communists in the Resistance is now pub-

lished. The review article (in

Spring issue of Horizons does an excellent job of describ-
ing the books and its contents. :

Other articles in this new issue of this Marxist quarter”
ly which are well worth reading include Philosophy and | |
the New Left in the U.S.A. by Howard Parsons, Democrati-

_ final article of Margaret Fairley, who was a founder-e

of Horizons.

yg eae

French) by Charles Lutz in the